Traverse City man arrested after truck theft and chase in Ottawa County

A Traverse City man was jailed after Ottawa County deputies say he stole a pickup from a Chester Township driveway and led officers on a chase that crossed several communities, damaged multiple vehicles and ended in trees.

The arrest came Saturday, May 9, 2026, after 4 p.m., when deputies were called to Crockery Shores Road near 24th Avenue in Chester Township for a report that an unknown man had taken a 2012 Ford F-250 from a driveway and driven north. Deputies later spotted the truck on Exchange Street in the Spring Lake Village area, about 24 miles from the theft scene, and tried to stop it.

The driver fled, and the first pursuit ended when deputies stopped following him through the village of Spring Lake. Minutes later, sheriff’s officials say the suspect deliberately rammed another vehicle at North Fruitport Road and East Savidge Street in Spring Lake. That vehicle carried a 25-year-old Ann Arbor woman, a 26-year-old Ann Arbor man and a 27-year-old Spring Lake man. An Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office vehicle also was struck.

No injuries were reported in any of the crashes or during the chase.

Deputies resumed the pursuit eastbound on Cleveland Street into Crockery Township, where they boxed in the truck near Cleveland Street and M-231. Officials say the driver then rammed multiple sheriff’s vehicles and kept going. The pickup later hit another vehicle as it turned into a private driveway, became disabled and came to rest in nearby trees.

The suspect, a 26-year-old man from Traverse City, was arrested and booked into the Ottawa County Jail on multiple charges. Additional charges are pending as investigators continue to sort out the sequence of collisions and the damaged vehicles left behind in Spring Lake and Crockery Township.

The case highlights how a stolen vehicle can quickly move from a residential driveway in Chester Township into a multi-community police response, drawing deputies through Spring Lake Village and into Crockery Township before the truck was finally stopped. It also left at least one sheriff’s vehicle damaged and raised fresh concern about the speed and reach of auto theft cases that cross township lines in Ottawa County.